The Old Man and the Gun

In what is allegedly his final film as an actor, Robert Redford plays real-life thief and escape artist Forrest Tucker. Tucker’s story came to public attention in a 2003 New Yorker article, and David Lowery’s self-aware second collaboration with Redford, after 2016’s Pete’s Dragon, is in many ways a cinephile’s homage to the veteran thesp’s filmography. The director slyly peppers this low-key, endearingly old-fashioned caper with nods to classic Redford star vehicles like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. Sissy Spacek and Tom Waits steal a few scenes, but this is ultimately Redford’s show. While the film’s effect might not linger too long in the mind, if this is to be his swansong, it’s a more than fitting one.

The Old Man and the Gun | Directed by David Lowery (US 2018) with Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek. Starts March 28.